The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to promote the discovery and validation of novel therapeutic targets to facilitate the development of pain therapeutics. Specifically, the focus of this FOA is on the basic science discovery of targets in the peripheral nervous system, central nervous system, immune system or other tissues in the body that can be used to develop treatments that have minimal side effects and little to no abuse/addiction liability. Research supported by this FOA must include rigorous validation studies to demonstrate the robustness of the target as a pain treatment target. This will lower the risk of adopting the target in translational projects to develop small molecules, biologics, natural substances, or devices that interact with this target for new pain treatments. Translational research to develop new medical devices are not the focus of this FOA. Basic science studies of pain and related systems in the body are responsive to this FOA and are encouraged in the context of novel pain therapeutic target discovery. This FOA is not specific for any one or group of pain conditions. Projects to identify novel targets for acute pain, chronic pain, migraine, other headache disorders, osteoarthritis, diabetic neuropathy, chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, sickle-cell pain, post stroke pain, etc. will be considered. Projects to identify novel targets for a combination of chronic overlapping pain conditions or for specific pathological conditions will be considered. Projects that seek to identify novel targets in specific populations such as women, children, older adults or other underrepresented groups will also be responsive to this FOA.

The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research education activities in the mission areas of the NIH. The over-arching goal of this NIH Blueprint R25 program is to support educational activities thatenhance the diversity of the biomedical, behavioral and clinical research workforce. To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this FOA will support creative educational activities with a primary focus on Courses for Skills Development, Research Experiences, and Mentoring Activities. The fully integrated educational activities should prepare undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds nationally underrepresented in biomedical and behavioral sciences to enter Ph.D. degree programs in the neurosciences. To accomplish this goal, this initiative will provide institutional awards to develop neuroscience research education programs comprised of collaborative partnerships integrated across different educational institution types. Each partnership must include: a) one or more institutions that have substantial enrollment of diverse undergraduates from populations underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences, b) a research-intensive institution that has an established neuroscience or neuroscience-related program, c) integrated curriculum/academic enhancement and research training activities designed to increase participants' preparation to enter doctoral programs in the neurosciences, and d) well-described plans to provide early communication and interaction between participating students and graduate neuroscience programs across the country.

This FOA will support integrated, interdisciplinary research teams from prior BRAIN technology and/or integrated approaches teams, and/or new projects from the research community that focus on examining circuit functions related to behavior, using advanced and innovative technologies. The goal will be to support programs with a team science approach that can realize meaningful outcomes within 5-plus years. Awards will be made for 5 years, with a possibility of one competing renewal. Applications should address overarching principles of circuit function in the context of specific neural systems underlying sensation, perception, emotion, motivation, cognition, decision-making, motor control, communication, or homeostasis. Applications should incorporate theory-/model-driven experimental design and should offer predictive models as deliverables. Applications should seek to understand circuits of the central nervous system by systematically controlling stimuli and/or behavior while actively recording and/or manipulating relevant dynamic patterns of neural activity and by measuring the resulting behaviors and/or perceptions. Applications are expected to employ approaches guided by specified theoretical constructs, and are encouraged to employ quantitative, mechanistic models where appropriate. Applications will be required to manage their data and analysis methods in a prototype framework that will be developed and used in the proposed U19 project and exchanged with other U19 awardees for further refinement and development. Model systems, including the possibility of multiple species ranging from invertebrates to humans, can be employed and should be appropriately justified. Budgets should be commensurate with multi-component teams of research expertise including neurobiologists, statisticians, physicists, mathematicians, engineers, computer scientists, and data scientists, as appropriate - that seek to cross boundaries of interdisciplinary collaboration.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hereby notify Program Director(s)/Principal Investigator(s) (PD(s)/PI(s)) holding specific types of research grants (activity codes listed above) that funds are available for administrative supplements to improve the diversity of the research workforce by recruiting and supporting students, postdoctorates, and eligible investigators from diverse backgrounds, including those from groups that have been shown to be underrepresented in health-related research. This supplement opportunity is also available to PD(s)/PI(s) of research grants who are or become disabled and need additional support to accommodate their disability in order to continue to work on the research project. Administrative supplements must support work within the scope of the original project. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is designed specifically for applicants proposing research that does not involve leading an independent clinical trial, a clinical trial feasibility study, or an ancillary clinical trial. Applicants to this FOA are permitted to propose research experience in a clinical trial led by a mentor or co-mentor.